Imanol Alguacil: This is the best manager in Europe you have never heard of.

By the one and only Alex Barker aka the Euroexpert -

@EuroExpert

Atletico Madrid aren’t having a great season right now.

They’re currently fourth, seven points off third. It may surprise you to learn that sitting high in LaLiga, just three points off Real Madrid, is Real Sociedad.

Or if you are an avid LaLiga viewer, it almost definitely isn’t a surprise. La Real have cultivated a reputation over the past 18 months for showing the best of Spanish football.

Former Crystal Palace flop Alexander Sørloth recently added his seventh goal of the season in the Basque derby against Athletic Club.

His teammate and striker partner, talented yet previously inconsistent Real Madrid forward Takefusa Kubo, scored a delightful second.

Getting the best out of the players in the squad has been a common trend over the past few seasons, which has seen everyone from the likes of Martin Ødegaard and Willian Jose in the past to Mikel Merino and Braiz Méndez in the present shine.

Underappreciated Genius

The points, the playstyle, and the performances tick off the checklist from everything you could want in a modern manager. One that defeated Manchester United at Old Trafford earlier this season in the UEFA Conference League. Yet Imanol Alguacil isn’t a name that often comes up for any open managerial opportunity across the continent.

The 51-year-old has now been at the helm for four and a half years. His ties to Los Txuri-Urdin however, date back over 30 years when he became a graduate of the youth academy in the wake of Sociedad’s first LaLiga triumphs in the early 1980s. Like all Sociedad players at the time, he had grown up in the Basque region himself.

La Real may not share quite the strictness in their recruitment as rivals Athletic, but many don’t know the club actually held a Basque-only transfer policy until becoming more flexible by the end of the 20th century.

Alguacil has spent around half his life in the Basque country officially employed by Sociedad, having played for a decade at the club and then worked his way up through the youth and assistant coaching ranks since rejoining in 2011.

Turning Water Into Wine

Despite such an obvious, deep bond to the club, it is absolutely worth trying to rehome Alguacil. His success in his first senior coaching role has been tremendously successful.

In the four seasons prior to his appointment in July 2018, Sociedad finished 12th, 9th, 6th, 12th. Since then, Alguacil has anchored his team in 9th, 6th, 5th, and 6th placed finishes. All the while operating on a transfer budget that has made a net loss in a season just twice since taking over.

Having never spent more than €20m on a player yet turning the likes of Alexander Isak and Diego Llorente into big-money sales, there’s been a quiet magic spell cast in Northern Spain for a while now, slowly operating under the radar.

He has operated in a generally calm manner with the occasional splash of passion, endearing himself well to fellow Basques. After historically winning the Copa Del Rey in 2019/20, the club’s first since 1987 and before that 1909, he couldn’t conduct his press conference in a responsible manner.

“This is for the whole of Guipúzcoa, this is for everyone who feels la Real.”

It’s hardly a sight you’d expect to see from even the most emotional of managers, even less so than Premier League veterans like former Sociedad boss David Moyes. It’s what makes Alguacil so relatable and loved in Spain even outside of the Basque region, rather than coming off as abrasive.

Yet he hasn’t just succeeded by knowing the club well, or benefiting off those who grew up in the Zubieta training complex. The man has demonstrated an ability to answer every single problem the superclubs face on the pitch today.

Sociedad sit fourth in LaLiga for non-penalty expected goals for per-90, which is the measure of their average quality of chance created in attack. For NPXG against, they have conceded the third fewest in terms of quality of chance per-90 minutes.

The games have been played and won with a style that holds 55.8% of the ball but are flexible enough to play long balls up for Sørloth, or passes in behind for Mohamed Ali Cho or Kubo to chase.

In possession usually, you see Martin Zubimendi shift the team into a back three and allow the full backs to push forward.

As David Silva drops into midfield, the carefully constructed passing channels begin to emerge, and should they beat the press with their quick, snappy passes, you see chances created centrally by Merino and Mendez. It’s precise, and extremely well executed.

(Sociedad vs Atletico Madrid, September 2022)

An ability to improve the talent at your disposal, while playing in a fashionable style of football, creating high-quality chances and forcing your opponents into weak ones, and regularly claiming European football, is practically the template job description for every top six job in every top five league.

Perhaps Alguacil’s heart is simply too wedded to Real Sociedad, and perhaps he should be left alone.

But football isn’t as romantic any more. It’s a business. And it’s growing increasingly clear that should the top job be available at a Barcelona, a Real Madrid, a Liverpool, a Borussia Dortmund, a Tottenham or anywhere else of such pedigree, Imanol Alguacil’s name should be top of the shortlist.

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